Return Of The Demon
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Sweeney Todd (although I wished like Hell I did...)!
A/N: I just saw "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" and I just had to write something about it! On the way home, my mind eventually began to measure new ideas, and I came up with this one, and thought it was the best (also liked it the best)...
Enjoy!!!
Chapter One
Sometimes there are occurrences that defy the laws of science. Occurrences that rip the human mind to shreds, that tear at the seams of sanity. Sometimes said occurrences bring wonder and amazement, others bringing horror and sorrow. Such is the tale that I will weave for you. A tale of sorrow, of horror, and fascination. The very tale of how the Demon Barber of Fleet Street may not be as dead as many had come to think...
It was said, at the beginning of time, that once the living were dead, passed on to better things, that they were not to return to the earth. Never to set foot upon the ground, never to touch another's skin, and never to love an earthbound being. The dead were to remain dead, and the living were to remain full of life, until it, too, diminished.
But, in instances where life is unclear, where darkness shrouds the fabric of time, the most peculiar of things can happen. Such things that play wrongly within the domain of God...
No one, even til this day, is quite sure how it happened. Many have theories, of course, as any curious person does. Many have questions, very few have answers. Ideas have been passed, thoughts have been shared, and experiments have been tried. But like the many mysteries of life, nothing gave their insatiable curiosity a solution.
Yet, no matter how many people have come to learn that there may be no answer to their questioning, they all know one thing...
Sweeney Todd was, once again, walking amongst the living...
Flashback
Toby's small fingers curled around the dreaded silver blade as he crept forward silently, the sound of his feet as quiet as a mouse. There was Sweeney Todd before him, leaning over a dirty woman with discolored blonde hair, blood still raining down from her slit throat.
How dare he hurt Mrs. Lovett, his poor Mrs. Lovett. His poor, dear, beautiful Mrs. Lovett. He had promised her, had told her, he would never let any harm come to her. And now she lay within the burner, her body rapidly incinerating into ash, her shrieks no longer heard among the roaring flames.
Twisting the blade in his hand, Toby stepped forward, Sweeney leaning over the woman, tears racing down his face, the make up of his eyes smudging.
"There was a barber and his wife, and she was beautiful. A foolish barber and his wife. She was his reason and his life, and she was beautiful. And she was virtuous..." Sweeney stopped, his head raising. He knew the boy was there, could smell him, smell the sewer rank that coated him. He lifted his head to the ceiling, his eyes raking over the room, giving the small boy the go-ahead signal.
Toby took it, lashing out violently and making a neat, straight-edge cut along Sweeney's throat. Blood immediately jutted forth, spurting and gargling, making sick wet noises as it dribbled down his body. Sweeney leaned forward, the crimson liquid spilling onto his beautiful Lucy, marking her face.
Toby dashed away, up the stairs leaving behind the horrid monstrosities that lay behind him...
"Such a nasty sight." A young police man whistled, sucking in a breath as he caught sight of the scene. The bodies still lay beneath the chute where they had been deposited, the body of Mrs. Lovett (or what was remaining of it) had been discovered when the oven was turned off, and Sweeney Todd was still there...leaning over his wife, his eyes open, a glazed, glassy look clouding them.
"What'd you say his name was?" The young man asked his chief, the older man stroking his gray moustache. To think he had almost come to the man to get a clean shave. Much thanks to his busy job, he had postponed it. And was quite grateful.
"Went by the name of Sweeney Todd. T'was the barber of our little Fleet Street."
"Nah, I mean, what'd you call him before."
"Ah...before your years, and when I was in my prime, he went by the name of Benjamin Barker," The old man gruffed, "I knew I saw him before. Stood as the bailiff at his trial. Such a sad thing, what happened to him...never forget a face kid, you'll find that as a useful reminder for the years ahead."
"Yes sir."
End
Pale hands raked at the dirt, nails darkening as the earth snuck beneath them. Muffled screams tore from the ground, none heard by those above. Needed the air, needed the sky, needed the life, needed it, needed it, needed it...
One hand broke the surface, a chill shaking the body that was trying to follow it, wind raking across the freed ligament. It groped around, fingers tangling in the grass, yanking and pulling. The hand became an arm, the arm turning into a shoulder. Beside it, another hand burst forth, as it too grappled around, gripping for support. That hand too became an arm, and that arm too became a shoulder...
There was a loud groan from the dark earth and suddenly a head came forth, dark wild curls coated in dirt, the thin streak of white now gray with filth. It would seem, in an odd sort of perspective, as if Mother Earth were giving birth to this odd being...
The being dragged himself forward, now becoming a torso, the white sleeves and cuffs torn and dirt-streaked. The dark jacket seemed the only thing not askew for the moment. The torso became a pair of thin hips, bent at a funny angle as they jerked from the restricting grip of the earth. From the hips came one leg, bending at an almost inhuman flexibility as it used its position to drag out the other leg.
The being, which could be easily recognized as a man, lay panting on the ground, his breath ruffling blades of grass before his mouth. Dark eyes cracked open, dirt falling from his lashes, and his body rolled over...
And for the first time in ten years, Sweeney Todd, the man meant to be dead and stay dead, came face to face with gray skies of world above.
How's the first chapter? Reviews would be appreciated!